Description
This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at Race Retro 2025 - Competition Cars on Saturday the 22nd of February, Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh Rd, Coventry, CV8 2LG. On offer here is a well known and highly successful example of Ford’s legendary first generation Mustang that’s formed part of our vendor’s well respected racing stable since 1999. He purchased the car, a 1965 'Notchback' Coupé, from the late Alan Minshaw some 26 years ago and it has raced almost every season since at various events across Europe. The car has been maintained and prepared to the highest of standards as evidenced by the impressive results in the car’s history file, not only confirming how competitive it has remained over those 26 years, but with only a handful of DNFs (did not finish), that speed has not been at the expense of reliability.
During the early years of current ownership, the car was painted red and was regularly shared with F1 driver, Le Mans winner and Arrows Grand Prix founder, Jackie Oliver, with much correspondence in the file between Jackie and the owner discussing how that years competition had gone. In 2013/ 14 our vendor decided that there were too many red Mustangs out there so commissioned Normandale in Daventry to refinish it in what has been described as ‘School Bus Yellow’, a distinctive hue that you are not going to miss.
Early engines were built by various specialists, however, a few years ago the car was fitted with a Peter Knight-prepared V8 which turned out to be excellent all round and, since then, he has continued to look after all our vendor's engine requirements. The car is accompanied by FIA papers valid until 31st December 2025, however, it’s worth noting that the car is not currently in FIA-spec as it doesn’t run the headers required for those regulations. Our vendor chose to do this for reliability purposes and has therefore raced the car in Championships such as the HRDC which, when combined with Richard Moore’s high standards of preparation, should ensure a whole season of club racing without mechanical concerns.
There is a significant spares package accompanying the car and a list can be provided to interested parties upon request. In our opinion, this car offers serious value for money at this estimate when you consider that the Mustang is fresh to market from 26 years of competing, prepared to high standards with an impressive reliability record and to replicate this package today, along with all the development required to get it reliable and competitive, would cost you well into six figures.
